Musings

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Time for another round of Musings channeling my inner Frank Costanza…”I’ve got a lot of problems with you people and now you’re gonna hear about it!”.

– If I see one more close up of Matt Patricia (New England Patriots Defensive Coordinator), I’m going to throw my remote at the TV! Why do producers love him so much? Is it the beard? or the red sweatshirt? or that he is portly? I would love someone to keep count of air time for an OC or DC and see how far out he would be in the lead. Only Rob Ryan got more unjustified TV shots..

– College Basketball. You’ve done a lot to irk me in the last few years, with replay reviews being at the top of my list. I’ve got three more things to add. 1) The fake camaraderie of going to help a teammate up is pathetic. Every time someone goes down, you see three teammates sprint over to help them up. Is this being taught in practice? It’s quite over the top. 2) Speaking of over the top: Guards who get touched and blatantly throw their body around like it was the biggest hack ever. I thought refs were supposed to call fouls on them for overacting. 3) Speaking of refs: Why do you have to insist that benches sit down? What is the harm in bench players standing when the game gets tight or celebrating while the play is going on as long as they are off the court..

– Listen for this because it happens a lot: Commentators at the end of the game saying: “Let’s take one more look” at a replay, when it is the very first look..

– At the end of last-second victory, why does the camera have to go right to the coach? What is the obsession with coaches? Players play, they won the game, I want to see them celebrate on the field/court. I love emotion and it drives me insane (especially in college basketball) when there is a buzzer beater and you get 2 seconds of players piling on, followed immediately by 10 seconds of a coach going to shake the other coaches hand

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– The newest trend in soccer the last few years: For the player who commits a foul to scream at the player that was fouled to try and show that they were faking (of course there are times this is the case). It now happens all the time and it does nothing to persuade opinion now. Just makes them look like a fool

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– Taylor Twellman: Just Shut Up

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– In minor-league sports, we’ve seen a trend in recent years where baseball has gone local. Teams across the country have ditched generic or affiliation names for something more local. Last season, the Binghamton Mets became the Rumble Ponies and a few days ago, the Single-A Tampa Yankees are changing to the Tarpons. Zany yes, but it’s for the better. Why can’t hockey do this? Instead, we’ve seen an opposite trend. This past offseason in the AHL, we’ve seen three teams all become closer to their affiliate in location/colors/nickname: Belleville Senators, Binghamton Devils and Laval Rocket (though that was already the case with the first two). That’s why it was with such a relief to recently see the Maine Mariners unveil their great name and logo. Let’s hope what is happening in minor-league baseball starts to infiltrate minor-league hockey.